As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then.Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

1955

discovered by landowner Albert Miller.

1973

start of excavation by Dr. James Adovasio from the University of Pittsburgh.

1978

end of excavation.

1983

excavation.

1985

excavation.

1987

excavation.

1990s

limited excavation.

2000s

limited excavation.

2003

first public tours.

2007

closed for renovation.

MAY-2008

reopened to the public.

Description

The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is a shallow cave overlooking Cross Creek in
Washington County.
This location is believed to be the earliest site of human habitation in North
America.
With its excavation it reshaped thought on what prehistoric people first came to
North America and when.

Until now the excavation has been closed to the public, accessible and even
known only to archaeologists.
But some years ago the scientists started to do tours for booked groups, in
order to make their work more publicly known.
Now the archaeologic excavations ended, the site was completely renovated and
opened for tourists.
There is a sort of wooden cave house, a block house built into the rock face,
which protects the small cave from weather and also houses a small museum.
They use overhead stage lights which are turned on and off to show interesting
locations.

Visitors are shown a seven minute video about the archaeological site, which
explains basic facts about the site and the excavations.
This takes place in the Visitor Center, which is nearby.
After the video the visitors have to drive down the hill with their own car and
climb 95 steps to the rock shelter.
Here guides wait, which explain where certain features were found, how they got
there, and how they are interpreted.
They also answer questions of the visitors.
There are two platforms which allow a view on the excavation site from two
angles.

The development of the site cost USD 1.3 million.
Now the National Historic Landmark is protected from weather and vandalism and
at the same time starts to become a tourist destination.
The complete name is Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Museum of Rural Life
because it is now part of a sort of open air museum with two topics, a
Pioneer and an Indian Village.
This museum with the name Meadowcroft was founded by two brothers, the farmers
Albert and Delvin Miller.
They purchased 80ha of abandoned coal mine from a coal company and opened a
youth camp in the early 1960s.
They began moving historical buildings to the site and in 1969, Meadowcroft
Village opened with 20 rural buildings from the 1800s.
Today the attractions include a log cabin, a covered bridge, a single room
school, a blacksmith shop, a 1941 barbershop, a caboose, farm implements and a
log church.
They operate in association with the Senator John Heinz History Center in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania's largest history museum.
The second part of the museum, a 17th-century woodlands Indian camp is
still under development [2008].

Around 14,000 B.C. Ice Age hunters - so-called Paleo-Indians - used the small
cave as a temporary campsite.
The place was convenient, as it faces to the south, catches breezes and sits
15m above Cross Creek offering a nice view on the prey.
And a special highlight: there are two springs for drinking water.
At this time the cave was larger, rocks from the ceiling fell to the cave's
floor, covered the remains and protected them from weathering.
After the excavation are now reddish stains which mark fire pits.
There are deer bones and mussel shells which can be seen in the remaining layers
of debris.
Hundreds of circular tags were fixed by the archaeologists to mark the layers.

This site was discovered by the landowner Albert Miller
in 1955.
One day he stumbled over a groundhog hole and used a shovel to enlarge it.
He was astonished when he found a flint knife, burnt bone and flint.
Actually he did the best thing possiblle in such a case: he filled in the hole
and searched for an archaeologist to excavate the site.
But it took many years, until 1973 that excavations started.
Dr. James Adovasio from the University of Pittsburgh
started with the excavation and after years of work and up to 5m deep holes, the
site had revealed the largest collection of plant and animal remains in a single
place in North America.
20,000 human artifacts, 956,000 animal bones of 149 animal species and 1.4
million plant remains including seeds, fruits, pollen, wood and charcoal were
unearthed.

This site was most likely used only by hunting parties, there is no evidence of
a permanent settlement.
There are no burials, human remains or permanent fixtures.
It was used primarily in the autumn.
Radiocarbon (C14) dating at the Smithsonian Institution determined that humans
had lived here as early as 16,000 years ago.